Each life chooses for itself. You cannot live their lives for them and likewise you should not mandate their destiny.

Should people be allowed to decide what we do to our own bodies?

For the most part. The government should only regulate that foods and drinks sold in public institutions are not poisonous, meaning they would quickly kill you with just a few or less intakes. They shouldn't be able to regulate whether I eat glue, do crack, sniff paint, drink energy drinks, or gorge myself with marijuana growing in the wild that I chose to ingest.

Does any government have a legitimate right to control abortion

It does. It also has the right to not control it.

drug legalization

Depends. I should have the right to ingest whatever I can get my hands on without prosecution. They, the government, should have the right to regulate drugs that are within a certain class at least to the point that pharmacies are not required to sell extreme drugs to someone without a prescription. If I find extreme drugs on the street, that's my problem. Not the governments'.

Selling to minors should be illegal without a prescription. Selling most things to an adult on the street should not be illegal. There is a line here due to the fact that someone could lace something, and sell it to you with the intent to kill you. It could be debated on rules.

assisted suicide

I have no problem with it if it were done by a professional. In other words, your neighbor doesn't need to assist you with poisoning yourself intentionally. Otherwise murderers could simply say that was what they were doing. You asked them for assistance. Then you could never prove a real murder.

experimental cancer treatments that have not been approved by the FDA

Should be legal.

herbal supplements, sodas over 16 oz in New York, etc.?

No government involvement. What are we 5? It's not government's job to wipe my ass. They can barely wipe their own.

You want to kill yourself that’s fine with me , abuse yourself with drugs , alcohol, cigarettes ? That’s ok by me once it’s your choice .

We are creating “Mammy states” where the government attempts to interfere and control every part of our lives , I’ve zero right to tell you or others what to do with your body , I should have the choice to do with mine as I will once it does not bring physical damage or danger to others

Hello m:

I dunno WHY people say the first job of government is to protect its people, when the presidential OATH of office says NOTHING about protecting people, and EVERYTHING about defending the Constitution..

If we're NOT free to DO with our bodies what we CHOOSE to do, we're not free at all..

excon

No one has a right to force to give birth, no one has right to decide what treatments I need, no one has right to decide what I have to do with my life. All of us are free in our choice. But our freedom ends where someone's freedom begins, so, sometimes we have to be more careful with our desires. Humanity is a big collective, such as https://essayvikings.com/custom-essays, so we have to listen to each other.

Consent should be informed. Otherwise, do with your body what you will.

First I'll note that I live in New Zealand, where we have a national health system funded by taxpayers, and I don't want to pay for other people being stupid, but I'll pretend I'm in the US - I understand people pretty much have to pay for their own healthcare there?

I might support a national health system in the US, and if that came into existence I would have to answer no to the question... Unless they made it so you had to pay for your own treatment if it was for something that was your fault, like overdosing on drugs.

I don't want to talk about abortion here, because that's a whole different debate about whether fetuses are just part of a woman's body or not. (I do however think abortion should be legal)

For everything else I'll just say yes, because it doesn't seem like you'd be causing any sort of damage to anybody else (at least not any damage punishable in the eyes of the law). I've never really had a problem with the stupid crap people want to do to themselves, so long as it doesn't affect me.

I might not be okay with really bad drugs being illegal if it means I'll see junkies all over town. They could probably just make laws against being on certain drugs in certain public places though.

Also, children shouldn't be allowed to do drugs and whatnot. I think they can't make their own decisions yet.

I don't know if the left and right can agree on this. Over here there's barely any difference between political parties, so nobody really cares about left and right, and I don't know enough to talk american politics. I try to avoid heavily political discussions here.

Should people be allowed to decide what we do to our own bodies?

Yes. The principles of private property start with ones body. What one does with their own body is their own business when there is no hazard to others. In most cases, they should also suffer the consequences of their actions without the forced support of tax payers. However, provided this is correct, there is still plenty of debate to be had on the topics your presented. Many of the topics that appear to come down to this principle are not so cut and dry. Prostitution for example, should properly be up to the person selling their services. But there is so much more that goes into it then that. Many (most) prostitutes are groomed into the position or forced into the position where they then acquire a protective Stockholm Syndrome for their slave master pimp who feeds them on a steady diet of forced drug use and backhands. It's not cut and dry.

Does any government have a legitimate right to control abortion

The argument against abortion still allows for a person to decide what to do with their own body in the absence of hazard to others. Abortion poses a hazard to another. Your body, your choice. But the child inside you with distinct DNA is not your body. Which is why a there are laws concerning fetal homicide, such as a DUI manslaughter where the only death is the fetus.

drug legalization

There are a number of illegal drugs that are harmless when used properly. Very often, these drugs are not used in a way that is non-hazardous to others. There are also drugs that, by the nature of their effect, cause a person to be hazardous to others. For example, there is no safe meth head and no safe way to manufacture it.

assisted suicide

While one can appreciate a person’s right to end their own life, and even to acquire assistance to this end, there are other issues at hand that would make this a difficult legal framework when not banned altogether. There is money to be had in expediting death, especially concerning inheritance. There would have to be extensive measures taken to ensure that the suicide is truly one of choice, especially for elderly patients. There is also the issue of who does the assisting. The institution of medicine has its foundations in the hypocritic oath. The principles upon which one bases their professional actions shouldn’t be contradicted too readily. As such, a suicide assist would likely need to be done by a professional other than a doctor. A proposition that likely has it’s own host of issues.

experimental cancer treatments that have not been approved by the FDA

The only issue here is to ensure a means to reduce deadly quackery. There is a bit of it already.

herbal supplements

Um…Is this an issue?

Even adhering to the principle that one owns their own body, there are plenty of ways for the government to control what you do with it. For example, I know of state laws concerning drugs that are pretty much the same as other states where ever you go. But there is no crime in doing drugs. If you are in your own house and you snort coke, and then the cops come for whatever reason, you are not in trouble for being high on coke. You are only in trouble if there is any coke or paraphernalia left. You can legally ingest whatever crazy chemical you want, you just can’t sell or possess it. In most cases, being high is not legally sufficient to show that you were previously in possession. Typically, drug users don’t simply stay home. They drive somewhere or do something else indicative of an altered state of mind. But a government can recognize that your body is your property and still make illegal the things you wish to put in your body without technically contradicting this principle.

This is a very tough decision because while I do believe in my body my choice in most instances I think it's going to depend entirely on circumstances.

In examples of harmful drugs. What got them into them? Where they given a prescription by a doctor and are now addicted to, like Opiods? They do need help and maybe they should be taken care of. They came in for pain relief and were instead given a government sanctified gateway to drug abuse.

In the event of abortion. I really only believe the woman should have the choice up until the first trimester, after that she should be heavily persuaded to put the baby up for adoption and in the event doctors are concerned about her self-harming herself or the unborn child I would prefer the child be removed from her and put in an incubator. It's still a concern but the chance of the child living is much higher. I also can't 100% say that any woman should be forced to give birth since we don't always know the circumstance or the reason and short of chaining her in a room there is no way we could ever guarantee that she wouldn't choose methods that puts her and the child at greater risk.

Assisted Suicide. So long as there is absolutely zero chance of recovering and the quality of life is abysmal, then yes I agree with assisted suicide. No one should be forced to take medications to keep them alive if their body and mind are ready to die. It is essentially torturing them so family members don't have to say goodbye.

For most of these there isn't a black and white solution.

The government has proven time and time again that they are experts on nothing but corruption. Why would I want evil, greedy clowns running my life any more than necessary? Do tell.

Yes people should have the right to do as they wish with their own body. That said, for example in the case of abortion (particularly late term) it is not clear that it is merely their own body. A woman that is pregnant with a baby boy does not have twenty fingers and a penis. Moreover, that baby is independently conscious and alive and thus to abort it is to infringe upon the child's right to it's own body. This said, I do support abortion rights up to around 3-4 months.

As for drug legalization and large sodas, it makes sense to allow people to harm themselves as long as they do not harm others. If their drug use leads them to harm others, then this can be pursued as a separate crime.

Experimental cancer treatments and herbal supplements are acceptable as long as no fraudulent claims are made and all the risks and side effects are made apparent to the user.

As for assisted suicide, there would need to be safeguards against abuse; "They wanted me to kill them, honest!" However in principle I have no objection to people making the decision to end their own life when in irredeemable circumstances. Of course, attempts to talk them out of it should be made if/when the person's situation can improve.